When I meet people elsewhere, I usually tell them I’m from Los Angeles or “the LA area,” because it’s easier to place it. However, I actually live northwest of the city, between LA and Santa Barbara. Like many who live there, I make a daily commute to and from LA proper for work. Along with not having kids in the city schools (I have stepkids, and they are in school, just not in my town. Don’t call the truant officer) and not attending a church, 50-plus hours a week away from where I live has made it a challenge to develop a sense of community with it. I’ve lived here for eight years, and much of the time, I’ve had very little idea what goes on in Simi Valley and Thousand Oaks, unless my sister and brother-in-law have told me about it.
Earlier this year, I began subscribing to the feeds of The Acorn, a local weekly that produces editions for various Ventura County cities (because these days I do as much of my reading online as possible). Having spent much of my life in cities with major newspapers (granted, of varying quality) it’s not really the kind of publication I’d have taken seriously in the past, to be honest. It’s not an “alternative” paper, digging into lesser-known stories; but at the same time, it’s not a “shopper” made up primarily of ads and fluff pieces, either.
I’ve been pleasantly surprised to find that this community paper can be a decent source for news about local events and town controversies…and yes, we do have them, like when one of the city’s biggest employers decides to relocate its 1200 employees to the San Fernando Valley. The Acorn picks up stories the Los Angeles Times, the nearest big-city daily, can’t be bothered with, and that the daily Ventura County Star might not accommodate because they’re just a little too local. And of course, it’s THE place to get updated on all the high-school sports news, as well as that ever-popular small-town-newspaper fixture, the Police Blotter. (A big-city paper like the LAT would need an entire section for that feature.)
California is perceived politically as one of the “blue” states, but it has a lot of red spots. Reading some of the letters to the editor in the Acorn sometimes reminds me that I’m living smack-dab in the middle of one – and once again, I’m a political misfit. (Having lived in Tennessee for ten years, I’m rather used to that…but still, that was Tennessee and this is California.) Readers have recently expressed their opinions on such issues as the “huge mistake” of overturning Proposition 8 and illegal immigration and employment, and they’re ready to engage in political debate. But they can get just as riled up over less overtly political issues, like the great grade-school handprint cover-up, the speed-bump controversy, and sign-ordinance abuse. In the age of the blog, it’s nice to see the time-honored Letter to the Editor still provides an outlet for people’s opinions, even when those opinions are critical of the newspaper.
While the community weekly demonstrates that the Times doesn’t have the crime-and-politics market cornered, it specializes in the news that truly hits close to home. School Board and City Council election season is getting underway. A local historian is trying to establish Simi Valley’s first historic district in a neighborhood where buildings pre-date the city’s founding in 1948. The Blessing of the Bikers took place a few weeks ago. And the Pet of the Week needs a home.
I really would have thought that reading the Acorn would give me more snark fodder than it usually does – and if I were reading it even a few years ago, it probably would have. You’re unlikely to find hard-hitting investigative exposés here. Some of the stories are absolutely on the “soft” end of the news spectrum, and the Letters section promises me at least one eye-roll a week. I still wouldn’t go out of my way to read it as a newspaper, but the fact that it comes into to my feed reader once a week means I can keep up with little effort…and if I miss the “newspaper experience,” I can simulate it online via the flip-through PDF version (and even print pages). It’s taken awhile, but I do feel a bit more informed about what’s going on here in my town, and since I do vote in city elections and patronize local businesses, I think that’s not a bad thing. And until we get a good local blog that covers a wide range of city concerns, the Acorn will have to do…
How do you keep up with what’s going on in your town? Do you still read the paper?
(Photo credit: PicApp.com)
